Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to systems and methods of detecting and defeating a drone. More specifically, a drone within the range of a detection antenna array is detected, its control signal is captured, and a neutralization system then emits an override signal based on the captured control signal.
Description of Related Art
The use of drones besides the United States military has increased exponentially in the recent years. In fact, the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) expects that by year 2020, American skies will have up to 30,000 drones operating domestically, fueling a $90 billion dollar industry. So, the possibility of a remote controlled, robot-crowded sky in the near future is very probable. Drones, as some of the unmanned aerial vehicles are popularly known, are becoming mainstream. This is because they can easily traverse places, where sometimes humans cannot. For instance, non-military drones have many advantages—crop dusting, high wire inspection, weather monitoring, firefighting, search and rescue missions, food and commodity delivery system, and border security, disaster responses, ground surveillance mechanism for law enforcement authorities, checkpoint operations in border patrols, crime prevention in urban areas, including but not limited to other law enforcement and military encounters in perilous state of affairs. Additionally, drones are also being developed for detecting explosives and disabling explosive activated vehicles. For instance, military, EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), HazMat (Hazardous Materials), SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), law enforcement agencies and other first responders now rely on drones to help assure a safe, successful outcome for their most challenging missions.
The increasing trend of drone usage has its pro and cons. As such, what is highly concerning is that the operation of drones, including personal drones is currently unregulated. This means that how, when and where drones can be operated is currently under no regulation by the FAA. Because of this, private entities and public law enforcement authorities other than the military, have the utmost freedom to use drones as they seem fit. So for instance, personal drones controlled by individuals can be flown within close proximities of buildings, edifices, residences, and airports with reckless disregard.
Statistics indicate that drones, when unregulated by the FAA, have a significantly higher propensity to be involved in accidents. Primarily, this is supported by the fact that accidents like crashes into buildings and residences, dive downs on public sidewalks and property, and mid-air collisions have exponentially increased in recent years. Furthermore, studies reveal that 418 drone related crashes have occurred since 2001. Consequently, victims of drone crashes have been unsuccessful in detecting and defeating drones in efforts to protect themselves or their properties out of harm's way.
However, drone related causalities can be prevented, if an adequate drone detection and defeat system is made available. Therefore, it is imperative that the market be provided with a system and method for detecting and defeating a drone, primarily aimed at protecting persons and property out of harm's way in drone related encounters.
In a recent poll taken, 47 percent of Americans said they were very concerned about drones “killing or harming innocent civilians.” Another 37 percent said they were “somewhat concerned.” 66 percent said they were concerned “that there is not enough oversight” of drone strikes, and 50 percent said they were concerned that the strikes were “damaging the image of the United States.” Given this pessimistic attitude on drone related activities what is startling is that even when regulated as in the case of military drones, there have been unprecedented drone related mishaps. For instance, statistics indicate that drones operated and regulated by the military are increasingly colliding with homes, farms, runways, roads, waterways and even in mid-air with smaller airplanes flying at lower altitudes despite their sophisticated technology.
Clearly, safety seems to be one of the primary concerns when it comes to drones. The fact that more and more drones are set to become a common fixture in American civilian life within a few years is concerning from a safety perspective, regardless of whether it is military regulated or personally operated. Therefore, it is imperative that the market be provided with a system and method for detecting and defeating a drone, aimed at increasing the safety of persons and property from potentially imminent drone related encounters.
Furthermore, the other primary concerns are protecting individual privacy. This is because there are no regulations enacted by the FAA related to spying and surveillance capabilities of drones. Accordingly, this has increased people's paranoia—concerning them greatly about their privacy. Similarly, commercially operated drones have raised several privacy concerns amongst private citizens. This is because most drones today are well-equipped with state of the art, high resolution cameras and recorders. As such, cameras and video recorders installed on drones have the potential to invade into people's personal lives, capturing them anytime through its lens like some unsolicited prying eyes in the sky. Consequently, drones equipped with cameras and video recorders can be easily configured to instantaneously capture high definition pictures and videos of practically anyone or anything within its flight path. As such, the captured images and videos can not only be viewed instantly with unprecedented clarity, but also uploaded on to any social media site within minutes. As a result, drone operators have the utmost freedom to fly their drones over private property, view and record anyone and anything and upload them on the Internet to be viewed by everyone.
Furthermore, drones can be used in illegal activities like smuggling drugs, blackmailing people with recorded images, having means to carry and drop explosives, shoot bullets from installed guns, and gather personal information on anyone. Clearly, this intrusive nature of prying eyes and potential to increase violence and illegal activities via drones is highly concerning. Therefore, a system and method to detect and defeat drones with the aim of increasing safety, protecting privacy and decreasing potentially illegal activities is required.
Therefore, it may be imperative that the world is in need of a system and method for detecting and defeating a drone system that thwarts and captures drones in a way that is non-offensive, non-combative, and non-destructive.